


Birthday presents

by adelaide_rain



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2011-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-26 17:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelaide_rain/pseuds/adelaide_rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eames makes Arthur's birthday wishes come true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday presents

Every year, Eames asks Arthur where he’d like to spend his birthday and every year Eames makes it happen.

This time it was surprisingly easy. Sometimes Arthur’s requests require the use of the PASIV device. Sometimes they require months of planning and blackmail. Compared to that, packing a tent, making a picnic and driving out to Arizona is almost disappointing.

Now the tent is up and they’re sitting on a plaid blanket stretched out on sandy rock. The wind is playful, tugging on Arthur’s unstyled hair. Seeing him like that – not to mention the dusty jeans and windbreaker – makes Eames smile. It’s the opposite of the Arthur that most of the world sees; only a select few get to see casual-Arthur and Eames is touched to be one of them. He doubts he’ll ever tire of seeing Arthur’s curls.

Sensing Eames’s gaze on him, Arthur turns to crook an eyebrow at him. “You’re in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and you’re spending your time looking at me?”

“Yes,” Eames says simply, smiling and locking his fingers with Arthur’s. A wash of pale pink spreads over Arthur’s cheeks and he puts a finger to Eames’s chin, pushing so that Eames is looking straight ahead.

Even though Eames loves to see Arthur blushing almost as much as he loves his curls, he knows that it makes Arthur self-conscious and obediently he looks out at the view.

Despite his reluctance to look away from Arthur, the view is stunning.

Stretching out in front of them is the Grand Canyon. Lit by the full moon, it is leached of the reds and rusts that Eames has seen in photographs. Instead the landscape is painted in silver and shadows. The sky is diamond-dust on sable with the Milky Way a creamy stellar smudge arcing across the heavens.

“So why here?” Eames asks, looking at Arthur out of the corner of his eye. “Ariadne was very disappointed she didn’t get to build Cloud City again.”

Arthur turns his head and smiles, dimples flashing. “I’m so sorry to disappoint her,” he says, then pauses to eat a gooey piece of baklava. He licks each finger afterward and Eames watches, rapt. Arthur catches him staring and chuckles, offers a finger for Eames to lick.

Once Eames is done mock-fellating the finger in a promise of what’s to come later, Arthur leans back to rest on his elbows and stares up at the sky.

“When I was fifteen, I came here on vacation with my family,” he says. “I remember standing here and looking out at all this and… I thought _I want to come here for my honeymoon_.”

“I hate to point this out but we’re not even married-”

Arthur cuts him off before he can get to his punch line. “Not yet we’re not.”

Eames stares at Arthur and finds no trace of teasing in his eyes. He’s just smiling softly, the moonlight making him look younger than he is. It wipes away all the weight of his stressful job and serious nature, and he looks like the carefree kid he must have been when he came here all those years ago. It makes Eames’s chest ache and he bites down on his lower lip before he says something embarrassing.

“Anyway,” Arthur says, turning his face back to the sky. “I’d been reading a lot. I broke up with my first boyfriend before school finished and buried myself in reading. Lost myself in these grand romances. I guess that’s why I was thinking of love and marriage. I just… ached for something like these characters had. That kind of unconditional, unquestionable love.

“Standing here, I felt so small, so insignificant. I wanted to come back here with that one person that I knew I wasn’t insignificant to.”

 _I love you_ , Eames thinks. _You’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever met and sometimes looking at you makes me want to check my totem because you’re too perfect to be real._

He doesn’t say it – only one of them at a time is allowed to be irredeemably sappy.

“You’re significant to me, darling,” is what he finally says.

Arthur gazes at him for a long moment with that intense, thoughtful look he gets sometimes. Without saying anything, he pushes Eames down onto the blanket and straddles him.

“Same,” he says, tracing the outline of Eames’s lips with a fingertip then leaning down for a kiss. He nips at Eames’s bottom lip before sliding their mouths together. Eames sighs into the kiss, one hand going to Arthur’s waist and the other tangling in his hair, thinking he could do this forever.

“Happy birthday, darling,” Eames says, lips brushing against Arthur’s.

In response Arthur kisses him again then settles his head into the crook of Eames’s shoulder. His long fingers trace patterns on Eames’s arm, following the inked patterns he can’t see under the layers of cloth.

One of the reasons that Eames loves Arthur’s birthday is because it’s the one time of year when Arthur is straightforward and tells Eames what he wants rather than leaving Eames to guess and hope for the best, and Eames has a very important question.

“So what would you like to do with the rest of the evening?”

“Well,” Arthur says, pushing himself up and looking down at Eames with a thoughtful expression that melts into a wicked grin. “First I’d like you to blow me. Take your time with it and show me just how pretty you are with a dick in your mouth. And then I want you on your back so that I can look at you while I fuck you.”

“And that’s what you want for your birthday?”

“That’s what I want every day,” Arthur says with a rare, sweet smile and gets to his feet. Grabbing both of Eames’s hands Arthur pulls him up and then into the tent.

As Arthur pushes him down into the nest of blankets Eames can’t help grinning. The best thing about Arthur’s birthdays is that Eames gets to enjoy the presents too.


End file.
